Pharisees and the Parable of the Prodigal Son

Continuing on through our Behold the Man study, Pryor covers the Parable of the Prodigal Son. He notes that in fact the Parable is not about the son, but about the father. Jesus' purpose was to illustrate the merciful character of the father, rather than focus on the plight of the prodigal son. Brad Young, in his book "Jesus the Jewish Theologian" writes: When this parable is studied in its original Jewish context, the traditional title, “the Prodigal Son,” becomes misleading. Actually, the title that we know so well distorts the story’s true meaning. It is a story with three key actors, the father and his two sons. The listener must pay close attention to each one of these performers and ask questions about the story’s setting in life. Three questions need to be asked:

1. What did the father think when his younger son asked for his inheritance? 
2. How should the elder brother have responded to the family crisis? 
3. What laws governed inheritance? 

Later he says,

Jesus emphasizes the connection between the brothers. He is teaching about God’s compassion and how people respond to it. Jesus is not making a veiled attack against the Pharisees. Such an approach, which criticizes the Pharisees, claims that they opposed repentance and the acceptance of the outcast. New Testament interpreters who make claims of this sort not only misrepresent the core of the teachings of the Pharisees, they completely miss the message of Jesus as well. They divorce his teachings from their original setting.

The Pharisees emphasized the love of God. They taught that God would receive with their great compassion anyone who truly repents. The rabbis, who were the spiritual heirs of the Pharisees, said that if a person would just take the first step toward repentance, by making the opening as small as an eye of a needle, God would take the initiative and receive that individual in love. For example, Rabbi Jose talks about God’s compassion for the sinner who repents. He tried to describe divine love in vivid terms to drive home the message:

“By the verse, “Open to me” (Song of Solomon 5:2), the Holy One means “Make me for an opening as big as the eye of a needle and I will make the opening so wide that wagons full of soldiers and siege battlements can go through it.” (Pesikta Derav Kahana 24:12)

Like Jesus the Pharisees believed that God was compassionate and desired to receive each individual who makes the first step. Divine grace is given to the sinner who repents and returns to God. A reader looking for an attack upon the Pharisees in this parable will miss the point. Jesus intended each person to see himself or herself in this story. Each person who hears this story looks into a mirror. Jesus wants his followers to see themselves. When interpreters see the Pharisees, they miss the point of the story. Will one see the image of the father? Will one recognize his or her behaviour in the actions of one of the two brothers? Each individual must carefully examine his or her image in the mirror of this parable. In the end the parable calls for a decision from the audience.”